[oldalum]

If you're putzing around Stanford then it's really unnecessary.

Disagree. See video interview with frosh M swimmer Shoults about his bike accident on campus earlier this year (returning late at night from library, raccoon ran out in front of him, and he went over his handlebars). Only serious injury was a ligament tear in his hand, had to wear a cast for one month which made training difficult. He was not wearing his helmet (despite them being given out for free to all freshmen) and realizes he could have had a serious head injury, so he has fixed that since then.

Not the best counterexample because of his speed, but you can get a serious head injury from falling off a bike at any speed. I once went over the handlebars while going less than 10 mph. Why take the risk? Having some (never all) bike-aware drivers helps prevent some accidents, but not others (e.g., car swerves to avoid something, clips bike riding alongside). Many accidents are the bicyclist's fault; when I make a mistake, I'd rather be wearing a helmet than not.

I enjoyed seeing a pic tweeted by Katie Ledecky on her first day of class, a selfie of her and another W swimmer leaving on bikes for their very first class, both wearing helmets.

What really gets me is seeing adults (and some kids) riding along with their helmet dangling from a handlebar. That makes no sense at all.

[oldalum]

If you're putzing around Stanford then it's really unnecessary.

Disagree. See video interview with frosh M swimmer Shoults about his bike accident on campus earlier this year (returning late at night from library, raccoon ran out in front of him, and he went over his handlebars). Only serious injury was a ligament tear in his hand, had to wear a cast for one month which made training difficult. He was not wearing his helmet (despite them being given out for free to all freshmen) and realizes he could have had a serious head injury, so he has fixed that since then.

Not the best counterexample because of his speed, but you can get a serious head injury from falling off a bike at any speed. I once went over the handlebars while going less than 10 mph. Why take the risk? Having some (never all) bike-aware drivers helps prevent some accidents, but not others (e.g., car swerves to avoid something, clips bike riding alongside). Many accidents are the bicyclist's fault; when I make a mistake, I'd rather be wearing a helmet than not.

I enjoyed seeing a pic tweeted by Katie Ledecky on her first day of class, a selfie of her and another W swimmer leaving on bikes for their very first class, both wearing helmets.

What really gets me is seeing adults (and some kids) riding along with their helmet dangling from a handlebar. That makes no sense at all.